Conventionally, concrete is transported from a batching plant to a pour site using vehicle-mounted transit mixers. However, many shoreline or off-shore pour sites are difficult to access by standard truck delivery. Conventional solutions that seek to resolve this issue, particularly those that seek to manufacture concrete off-shore for on-shore use, suffer from long-range transportation problems. As these job sites typically lack docks, any production plant must be located a given distance off-shore. However, transportation of concrete across this distance requires time, during which the concrete cures and reduces in workability. Furthermore, conventional transport methods, such as use of crane-operated buckets, typically expose the concrete to uncontrolled amounts of air or seawater during transit, which can result in uncontrolled concrete property changes.
Furthermore, component durability and storage drawbacks preclude the concrete from being pumped to the shore. Flexible pipes and hoses, such as those made from rubber, cannot support the pressures required to move the product such a long range. Furthermore, the coarse granular composition of the concrete reduces durability and lifetime of these pipes and hoses. The granular concrete composition also reduces the lifetime of most pumps capable of providing pressures sufficient to move the concrete the desired distance. Rigid piping solutions are non-ideal for off-shore production plants, as off-shore production plants are typically limited in storage space.
Furthermore, conventional concrete production and delivery is costly due to the multiple transportation steps that are required before the concrete arrives at the job site. Constituent materials of the concrete, such as aggregate, cement, and admixture, are typically shipped in on supply vessels or via railway, off-loaded onto trucks at the shoreline, transported to an inland production plant, mixed, and transported back to the shoreline via truck. These steps increase the cost of production, increase the lead time between supply vessel arrival at the shoreline and concrete delivery to the shoreline job site, and generate massive amounts of transportation waste products.
Thus, there is a need in the concrete manufacturing and delivery field to create a new and useful concrete production and delivery system. The present disclosure addresses these and other needs of the prior art.